Appealing Against Wrong Council Tax Banding

By Author: Darren Smith
Total Articles: 7
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Council tax was introduced in England in 1993, replacing the unpopular Community Charge. The system of council tax is excised on every domestic property in England, Scotland and Wales, regardless of the fact whether the property is owned or rented. The new tax system placed every house in eight different bands on the basis of the valuation of the properties. There are eight council tax bands, ranging from Band A to Band H. Band A lists the properties that have lowest valuation and band H lists the higher ones. The intention behind the introduction of this new taxation system was to fund several public services such as fire, garbage, libraries, schools, leisure centres, street cleaning, public transport etc. However, it has been found out due to flawed valuation of the properties in the year 1991, council tax banding of 400,000 homes are incorrect and as a result, the property owners and the dwellers are paying more council tax than they actually should. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in England itself reports that approximately 903,000 houses in England that had made an appeal for revision of their council tax banding ...
... had got their tax reduced.
There are many property owners and dwellers who deem their council tax banding to be incorrect and hence wish to re-assess their property value. In these circumstances, there are certain basic steps which the property owners need to follow before challenging their banding and seeking council tax refund on the extra payment made. The most crucial thing is checking the banding with the neighbour’s. it is necessary to find out whether the neighbours banding is lower against identical properties. If it is so, an appeal for re-assessment can be made and council tax refund can be sought.
Since the banding of the domestic properties in England is based on the 1991 valuation, it is imperative to find out the value of the house as in 1991, when the new system of council tax was introduced. For this, one needs to use the Nationwide House Price Calculator to assess the estimate of his house as in 1991 and then compare its value with the band under which it falls. If this valuation check provides results of the properties being placed in higher bands, an appeal for assessment of council tax banding can be made.
An appeal for tax band re-assessment has to be made with the Valuation Office Agency. Valuation Office Agency website can also be referred where the parties need to quote reasons for making re-banding claim and explain the reason why they think their council tax banding as incorrect.
However, before appealing for council tax banding review, things such as comparing the council tax bands with other properties in one’s area and checking out the alterations and additions made to the properties need to be conducted properly. It might be a fact that a property is in the higher band because its neighbor is in the wrong band. So a re-assessment can see the neighbour’s band go up, which is in no way proves beneficial to his cause. It is thus important for a property owner to undertake property valuation check before appealing for a council tax re-assessment and asking for council tax banding.